Recreating Peace
by skg1991
Summary: This is my first fan fiction. The Rokudaime Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto who brought peace must now fight his rival Sasuke who wanted to be Hokage himself. During their final attack, Sasuke died and they were sent into the past. Now Naruto is back in the chaotic Shinobi world where he must once again defeat the Akatsuki and recreate peace. Time-travel. DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto.
1. Chapter1-Prologue

**RECREATING PEACE**

**Summary: This is my first fan fiction. It is based on Naruto. The Rokudaime Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto who brought peace must now fight his rival Sasuke who wanted to be Hokage himself. During their final attack, Sasuke died and they were sent into the past. Now Naruto is back in the chaotic Shinobi world where he must once again defeat the Akatsuki and recreate peace.**

**CHAPTER 1: PROLOGUE**

FLASHBACK(italics)

_Four years had gone by since the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi war. The war ended with two men coming out as heroes. The two men who were rivals when they were young, grew up following two different roads and ended up becoming the two strongest ninjas of the era. The two of them once again ended up serving the same village. But after four years when a new leader had to replace the old leader, only one of them could take the title. The title of the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure. For the previous village leader, the elders, the shinobi council and the daimyo, it was a rather easy choice. They went with the obvious choice of choosing the former village pariah who earned the title of the most notorious prankster in his childhood, went on to become the dead-last in the academy, saved the village from the formerly insane jinchuuriki of Sunagakure, saved the Godaime Kazekage of Sunagakure from the Akatsuki, saved the village from being annihilated by Pain, became the hero of the village and then became the hero of the shinobi world rescuing everyone from the wrath of Uchiha Madara. The man who finally brought peace into the shinobi world, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto._

_This obviously didn't sit well with his rival, Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke as a shinobi had been through a lot. When he was only seven years old, he saw his idol, his older brother, Uchiha Itachi slaughter through his entire clan. He swore revenge against his older brother and pushed everyone away. Following the path of an avenger, he joined hands and trained under the traitorous Sannin of Konoha, Orochimaru. Three years later, he killed Orochimaru. He then formed his own team and went after Itachi. After killing Itachi and attaining his revenge, he found out that Itachi was in fact a true shinobi who was ordered by his own village to destroy the Uchiha clan to prevent a coup de tat. After learning the truth about Itachi, he swore to destroy his former village, Konohagakure. His sharingan evolved into a mangekyo sharingan and he joined the Akatsuki. He tried to capture the Jinchuuriki of the Hachibi, Killer Bee. However he failed. He then learned about one of his primary targets, Danzo going to the Gokage Kaidan in Tetsu no Kuni as the Hokage. He attacked the Gokage Kaidan and the five kage in an open assault. He escaped thanks to Tobi's intervention. He then fought and killed Danzo. He then tried killing his former team mate, Haruno Sakura and his former sensei, Hatake Kakashi, only to be stopped by his arch rival, Uzumaki Naruto. For the sake of killing Naruto, he had Itachi's eyes implanted into him, which gave him the power of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. He then fought alongside the reanimated Uchiha Itachi against Yakushi Kabuto. After defeating Kabuto, he revived Orochimaru. He then decided to clear all his doubts with the four hokages who were revived thanks to Orochimaru's edo-tensei no jutsu. After hearing the truth about shinobi and villages form the first Hokage, Senju Hashirama, he decided to help the alliance in their battle against Tobi and the revived Madara. He alongside Naruto defeated the nearly invincible jinchuuriki of the Juubi, Uchiha Madara after defeating Obito (Tobi). Orochimaru finally died during the war. He then joined Konoha as a shinobi under the Godaime Hokage, Senju Tsunade. He was pardoned for all his crimes by the gokage thaks to the man who was hailed as the hero of the shinobi world, his best friend and rival, Uzumaki Naruto. He then decided to become the next Hokage of Konoha and change the village and the shinobi world himself. He found out later the villagers no longer trusted him anymore. His former classmates and even his former fan-girl, Haruno Sakura looked at him with cold and untrusting eyes. He however continued enduring it all with his goals and ambitions in mind. However his goals and dreams were hit hard when he heard that his rival and best friend, Naruto would become the next hokage._

_While he always knew that Naruto was the more favored candidate, he just couldn't bear the thought of following orders of someone he considered to be way below himself. His pride and ego would never allow him to follow the orders of the former dead-last who had become stronger with each and every single passing day. He knew they were evenly matched. Maybe Naruto was a little stronger due to his tenant and his determination to never give up, but he would rather be dead than follow the orders of the former dead-last. However for the sake of his goals, he decided to swallow his pride, continue serving under Naruto patiently and wait till Naruto retires to become the next Hokage._

_A month had passed by and Naruto had officially taken over as the Rokudaime Hokage. Naruto had then begun training Sarutobi Konohamaru to be his successor. That was the last straw for Sasuke. He knew that if this continued, he would never become hokage. And that would end everything. As long as Naruto is the hokage, his ambitions and goals would never be full-filled. He decided to take matters into his own hands. He attacked and killed Haruno Sakura, Hatake Kakashi and Hyuuga Hinata, the three people Naruto cared about the most in one night. He then sent a note to Naruto telling him to meet him at the Valley of the End, where they would fight one last time._

AT THE VALLEY OF THE END (present time)

Two figures were standing at top the two statues. Both bleeding profusely and panting hard. They had been fighting for five days continuously with neither coming out on top. On top of Madara's head stood, Uchiha Sasuke. His armor had been destroyed. His cloak with the Uchiha crest was in tatters. He currently stood with shirtless with black anbu pants. On top of Hashirama's head stood Uzumaki Naruto, the Rokudaime hokage. His bright orange shirt was totally burnt off. His red cloak with black flames that had the crest of the Uzumaki clan on his right shoulder, the kanji for sage on the left shoulder and the kanji for the rokudaime hokage on his back printed similar to that of his father, the yondaime had three holes and was lying on the water. He currently stood wearing just his mesh armor and his orange pants. The two of them just had enough strength left in them for one final attack.

"I finally understand why Madara did what he did all those years ago. Back then I had only heard Hashirama's side of the story." Sasuke said.

"Why Sasuke? After all we have been through. Why?" Naruto asked him one final time.

"You'll never understand, dobe. Let's end this. This has gone long enough. I know you only have the strength for one final attack. So do I. I am going to attack you with my final most powerful technique. Let's see who the stronger one among us is. And don't you dare hold back. I know you pulled back your rasengan during our last fight here. If you dare to hold back on me, I will finish off what I started and I'll kill the rest of your friends." Sasuke said.

"Fine." Naruro replied.

Naruto went into Biju Mode and then entered his Sage Mode. He then started creating his Bijudama. He then infused it with his wind element and water element which started rotating around the bijudama giving the appearance of a miniature Saturn.

Sasuke activated his Susanoo and covered his blade with the flames of Amaterasu. He then infused lightning chakra into the blade which made the blade look like it was covered with blue and black flames that were producing an electrifying sound.

Sasuke screamed,"This is it, then. Narutooooo."

"Sasukeeee."

The two of them jumped towards each other as their attack clashed. Their attacks destroyed the entire valley including the two statues. They were then surrounded by a black orb, similar to the one in their first clash, only much bigger that it could be seen from konoha.  
_

When Naruto finally woke up, he was lying on a bed. He checked with his tenant. He found Kurama also sleeping due to nearly complete depletion of chakra. He couldn't move his arms. He looked up and he recognized the ceiling. He was in the Konoha Hospital. He couldn't move any part of his body. He couldn't even move his neck to check out his surroundings. With Sakura dead, he expected Moegi or Tsunade to be the one treating him.

Suddenly the door opened and a nurse he came in. He knew he had seen her face but she looked much younger than he remembered. She saw him and her eyes widened "You're awake!" she screamed.

Naruto tried to reply but she immediately ran out. He made a mental note to tell Moegi about her rude behavior when he meets her.

After twenty minutes, four people entered the room. Since he couldn't move his neck, he couldn't see who they were. He could only hear their footsteps.

Suddenly, he heard a voice saying, "Who are you? Explain."

Naruto had assumed that he was in Konoha. He hadn't seen this question coming. Besides, there was hardly anyone in any nation who didn't recognize the face of the man who brought peace into the Shinobi world.

The voice asked again, "Who are you? What were you doing in the valley of the End where our shinobi found you and another person who is now dead?"

"The name is Naruto. The two of us were fighting at the valley of the End." replied Naruto, who thought that maybe he was in another village that didn't recognize him. He was sad and at the same time relieved that Sasuke was dead.

The voice then asked, "Where are you from?"

"Konoha." Naruto replied.

As soon as he replied, there were sudden gasps and muttering going around between the four people.

Then he heard a nostalgic voice. It was the voice of an old man. A voice he hadn't heard in years. "If you are indeed from Konoha, how come i don't know you?"

Naruto was feeling confused and he was irritated. He replied, "Now that depends on who you are."

The old man asked the nurse for permission and asked someone to bend Naruto forward so that he could see him.

Naruto was forcefully bent forward and turned by a man who was wearing a bear faced Anbu mask.

While turning Naruto saw another Anbu wearing a ferret mask and the nurse that had run away from the room earlier and then he saw another man. The words suddenly escaped from his mouth.

"Jiji?"  
_

Author's Note:

I know i ended with a cliff-hanger. Sorry about that. This is my first fan fiction. And I'm really nervous about it. I know there are so many time-travel fan fiction based on Naruto. But i couldn't resist. as far as pairings go, I haven't decided yet. I am not sure yet how to write lemons so there probably won't be any. I will probably update soon. Probably within another 3-5 days. Hope you guys enjoy it.


	2. Chapter 2-Settling In

**CHAPTER 2: SETTLING IN**

Flashback and Recap-_Italics_

Kurama-**BOLD CAPITALS**

Summoned animal's speech-**Bold**

Thoughts- 'single quotes'

Previous Chapter

_The voice then asked, "Where are you from?"_

"_Konoha." Naruto replied._

_As soon as he replied, there were sudden gasps and muttering going around between the four people._

_Then he heard a nostalgic voice. It was the voice of an old man. A voice he hadn't heard in years. "If you are indeed from Konoha, how come i don't know you?"_

_Naruto was feeling confused and he was irritated. He replied, "Now that depends on who you are."_

_The old man asked the nurse for permission and asked someone to bend Naruto forward so that he could see him._

_Naruto was forcefully bent forward and turned by a man who was wearing a bear faced Anbu mask._

_While turning Naruto saw another Anbu wearing a ferret mask and the nurse that had run away from the room earlier and then he saw another man. The words suddenly escaped from his mouth._

"_Jiji?"  
__

Sarutobi Hiruzen, a man who was known as the Professor for his great knowledge in Shinobi arts couldn't have been more surprised. The God of Shinobi has been called by many names in his 68 years of life like how his sensei and predecessors, Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama often called him 'Saru' back in the day or how Danzo and his advisors, Homura and Koharu have often called him 'Hiruzen' or how his students, the legendary Sannin, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru have often refered to him as 'Sarutobi-sensei'. Most of the others have often called him, 'Sandaime-sama' or 'Hokage-sama'. The only people who had the gall to call the God of Shinobi, 'Jiji' were his own seven year old grandson, Sarutobi Konohamaru and his successor Namikaze Minato's eleven year old orphan son, Uzumaki Naruto. This man in front of him said that his name was 'Naruto', referred to him as 'Jiji' and he also mentioned that he is from Konoha. Upon taking a closer look at the man's face, he noticed several features that were unique to the village's most notorious prankster. The six whisker marks-three on each side, the bright blond hair, the blue eyes were exactly the same. He was also wearing orange pants just like the prankster. Hiruzen had just met the blond prankster to give him his monthly pocket money earlier in the day and was trying to recall every little bit of the child's unique features. No matter how hard he looked, the man in front of him was looking like an older version of the troublesome prankster.

Uzumaki Naruto, the man at the other end of the staring contest couldn't believe his very own eyes. In front of him stood the man who was like a grand-father to him, a man who had died when he was just thirteen years old, someone whom he had sorely missed later on in his life. He had met the reanimated version of the old-man during the Fourth Great Shinobi War, but they didn't have the time to chat. They had a major battle to fight against Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Obito. However, the man in front of him was no edo-tensei. He was a living version of the Sandaime hokage.

The question that was running in both their minds was 'How?'. The God of Shinobi wanted to confirm the identity of the one in front of him. He decided to ask him some random questions.

"What is your full name?" Hiruzen asked.

"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto replied.

When Hiruzen heard 'Namikaze', he wasn't sure how to take it. If this person indeed was Naruto, he knew who his father was. Hiruzen had always wondered how Naruto would take it, when he would eventually come to know that his father was indeed 'The Yondaime Hokage'. And if he wasn't Naruto, then it presented a risk, since he couldn't have any other village, particularly Iwa knowing that The Yellow Flash's son was very much alive. The boy was far from ready to face such a risk. The boy was capable of painting the hokage monument in broad daylight and send the Anbu, the jounins and the chunins on a wild goose chase while wearing bright 'kill-me' orange clothes. But taking on assasins and oinins would have to wait till he had become a legend himself. Hiruzen wanted to wait till the child had turned chunin.

Hiruzen knew that random questions won't get him the answer. He told the Anbu and the nurse in the room that presence of the patient and his identity is to be a SS-rank secret. He then told the Anbu, Ferret to get Yamanaka Inoichi into the room immediately.

When Ferret came back with Inoichi, Hiruzen continued,"Tell me about yourself and the dead man who was with you."

Naruto was someone who was easily confused. Usage of a few intelligent words was more than enough to frustrate and confuse Naruto. When the Sandaime hokage, started asking questions, he knew instinctively that it would better to answer those questions than refuse to do so. He may have been the Rokudaime hokage who held the title of the strongest hokage of all time, but he certainly wasn't the smartest hokage of all time unlike the man in front of him. Naruto was totally confused and if anyone could tell him what was going on, it was the man in front of him. Besides, with both Kurama and himself suffering from severe chakra depletion and injuries, he knew that it would be weeks before he would be able to resist anything that the old-man in front of him could do.

"My name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure. I am the son of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato and the Akai Habanero, Uzumaki Kushina. I am the jinchuuriki of Kurama, the Kyuubi and I am the student of Hatake Kakashi and Jiraiya of the Sannin. I am currently 21 years old. The man whom I fought and I believe is the dead man you are referring to was Uchiha Sasuke, my old friend, team-mate, rival and the last of the Uchiha clan. He was the son of Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto. His brother was Uchiha Itachi. He killed three people who were very important to me and was threatening to kill the rest of my friends. He wanted to be hokage himself and didn't like it at all when I was chosen ahead of him." Naruto replied.

After hearing Naruto's explanation, Hiruzen was totally taken aback. The Naruto he knew had always spoken about how he wanted to take his hat from him. Hiruzen also knew that 'the will of fire' was extremely large inside Naruto. However, his grades were extremely low and often Hiruzen had found himself wondering if the child was indeed the son of his successor. The explanation regarding Uchiha Sasuke made Hiruzen sad. Ever since his clan's annihilation, the young Uchiha had always distanced himself from others. He wanted the last of the Uchiha clan to remain faithful to the village like his older brother, Itachi and never get sucked in to the hate and anger of the Uchiha clan.

Inoichi was looking wide-eyed at Naruto. He couldn't believe a single thing he was hearing. He had just heard that the boy who was being treated as the village pariah was not only the son of one of his best friends from his academy days but also was the same man sitting right in front of him. He had heard from his daughter, Ino that the boy was a loud blithering idiot who couldn't even perform a bunshin and was the dead-last in the class. 'There is no way that the same boy became the Rokudaime hokage.' He was telling himself.

Hiruzen got over his shock and asked him, "Will you willingly subject yourself to the Yamanaka clan's mind reading technique?".

Naruto replied "Sure. Go ahead Inoichi-oyaji".

As Inoichi did the hand seals, Hiruzen placed his hand on Inoichi's head. When Inoichi looked at him questioningly, Hiruzen said, "I trust you, Inoichi. But I want to see everything for myself too. Its not everyday, you come across someone who appears to be a time-traveller after all."

Three hours later, Inoichi fell on the floor, looking tired and drained of chakra while Hiruzen opened his eyes and looked at Naruto totally shocked. For five minutes nobody moved or said anything. Then suddenly like an ice-breaker came the voice of Iruka that could be heard all over Konoha, "NARUTOOOOOOOOOOO. GET BACK HERE AT ONCE."

The younger Naruto had apparently gotten Iruka to suffer from a nose-bleed using his 'Oiroke-no-Jutsu' and had run away from the academy.

That's when the older Naruto realized that his younger version was currently alive in this time-line and had just played a prank on Iruka sensei. Naruto asked Hiruzen, "So how old am I in this time-line?"

Hirzen replied, "Eleven and as you probably know already more mischevious than ever". Naruto chuckled at Hiruzen's reply.

Naruto then asked him, "Where is Sasuke's dead body?"

Hiruzen pointed to another corner of the room where a body lied covered in a white cloth. Hiruzen asked the Anbu, Bear to move Naruto's body in that direction. Hiruzen then removed the cloth covering Sasuke's face. A tear escaped Naruto's eye as he told Hiruzen, "Please burn it off with a fire jutsu."

When Hiruzen looked at him questioningly, Naruto said, "No one should get their hands on Sasuke's sharingan. Orochimaru and his spy will come looking for it. Also I don't want to face a reanimated Sasuke. The 'edo-tensei no jutsu' was frequently used by my enemies in battles. I don't want anyone to insult my friend's death in any manner."

Upon hearing Naruto's answer, Hiruzen used a low level Katon jutsu on Sasuke's body and burnt it till nothing but ashes were left behind. He opened the window as the wind blew the ashes away.

Hiruzen looked at the nurse and told her to continue treating Naruto and report to him when Naruto had recovered. He then looked at Inoichi and told him about everything he had just seen and heard being a SS-rank secret. He asked Bear to watch over and guard Naruto and left with Inoichi and Ferret.

Naruto was expected to recover in a month. But thanks to Kurama recovering within a week, Naruto's recovery took only another one week. The nurse reported Naruto's recovery to the hokage who entered the room where he found Naruto doing some stretches.

Looking at Naruto, Hiruzen asked him, "So how are you feeling?"

Naruto replied, "Just great dattebayo. Can't wait to have some ramen from Ichiraku's." Hiruzen simply laughed at Naruto's answer and said, "Ramen will have to wait. We can't have two blond, blue eyed, ramen lovers eating twenty bowls of ramen at a time, can we? Besides, we have some more talking to do."

Naruto looked at him and said, "Fine. I'll do a henge. Besides, I don't have any money right now. What else do you want to know? I thought you went through my whole mind about two weeks ago."

Hiruzen smiled at him and said, "Yes, we saw through quite a lot. But not everything. We saw your entire battle with Sasuke, and how you indeed were the Rokudaime hokage in you time-line. The mind reading technique requires a lot of chakra and Inoichi was totally drained. We had seen enough to believe who you are and how you appeared here. I believe due to insane amount of power and chakra in your attacks, the two of you created an extremely large and powerful worm hole that sucked both of you into a different time. The worm hole also sucked away a lot of chakra from both of you and the only reason you survived was because of your tenant."

Inside Naruto's mindscape, Kurama was telling Naruto, **"HEAR THAT KIT, YOU OWE ME BIG AGAIN. YOU SURVIVED ONLY BECAUSE OF ME, SEE. KURAMA-1 NARUTO-0"**

Naruto replied, 'Shut up, Baka-Kurama. I know that already. Besides, we both would have died if it weren't for you and your chakra. So it still is Kurama-0 Naruto-0'

"**HUH, UNGRATEFUL KIT"** Kurama muttered.

Naruto then looked at Hiruzen and realized he had just missed something that Hiruzen said while he was talking to Kurama. So Naruto apologized to him, "Sorry, I was talking with Kurama. So I really didn't hear what you said."

Hiruzen sighed and said, "I asked what do you intend to do now? We don't know any possible way of sending you back to your own time. By the way, I understand by Kurama, you are talking about the kyuubi no kitsune. How is that working for you? I saw that you were working perfectly with him. But you can't blame an old man for getting a little paranoid. The last time, I saw him, he was destroying my village and killing many civilians."

Naruto replied, "I would like to continue as a shinobi. I managed to fight and bring peace in my time-line. I might as well do it again here by sacrificing fewer lives this time around. I also want to help my younger self. I went through a lot of pain in my life time. I don't want to see my younger self going through the same things that I went through. As far as Kurama is concerned, well he is alright. We work really well together. If you want you can talk to him."

Naruto then closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes, they were red in color. They glared at Hiruzen and unleashed some killing intent. The God of Shinobi stepped back upon seeing the sight. The Naruto with the red eyes then said, **"WHAT DO YOU THINK SARUTOBI HIRUZEN? YOU DIDN'T THINK THE SEAL WOULD HOLD UP FOREVER DID YOU. THE BRAT IS UNDER MY CONTROL NOW, HAHAHAHA."**

Hiruzen paled and suddenly felt as though his worst fears had just been realized.

Suddenly Naruto with the red eyes started laughing. A more honest and less evil laugh compared to the earlier one. **"HAHAHAHA. DID YOU FORGET EVERYTHING OLD MAN? I WAS JUST MESSING WITH YOU. AS THE KIT SAID, WE WORK TOGETHER REALLY WELL NOW. THE KIT'S FRIENDS ARE MY FRIENDS AND THE KIT'S ENEMIES ARE MY ENEMIES. MAN, YOU ARE EASY KURAMA-1 HIRUZEN-0. HAHAHAHA."**

Hiruzen just stared at him open mouthed for a while before regaining control of himself. When he saw that Hiruzen no longer looked shaken up, Kurama said, **"AS FAR AS OUR LAST ENCOUNTER IS CONCERNED, WELL THE KIT WILL EXPLAIN IT TO YOU. THEN YOU'LL UNDERSTAND ABOUT MINATO'S ACTIONS AS WELL."**

So saying he closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were blue again and it was Naruto talking. "Jiji, about the incident. Well it wasn't exactly Kurama who attacked the village. He was under a genjutsu."

Naruto then explained the entire story and how a certain Uchiha wearing a mask appeared when his mother was giving birth to him and about how he heard all this from his mother who had appeared when he was trying to control Kurama. Naruto decided to avoid mentioning Uchiha Obito's name to Hiruzen, since it would only cause him a lot of grief and pain to know that one of the few heroes of the Uchiha clan was also a traitor. Naruto knew that he would have to deal with Obito himself eventually. He also knew that the knowledge of Obito's existence and the fact that Obito was responsible for the Kyuubi incident and the Yondaime's death would kill Kakashi inside out, if he ever came to know about it. Especially since Kakashi had never really forgiven himself for Obito's and Rin's death. If Kakashi knew that Rin's death by his own hands was the reason why Obito turned evil, then Kakashi would probably kill himself.

After hearing the story, Hiruzen asked Naruto, "Who is this masked man?"

Naruto replied, "He was the student of Uchiha Madara. He is an Uchiha himself. He calls himself Tobi."

Hiruzen thought for a while and said, "We never had an Uchiha Tobi. So who was he really?"

Naruto replied, "He had a scarred face when we broke his mask. Besides, does it really matter who he is? He is the man responsible for the near destruction of the village. He always wore an orange mask with spirals. The mask had one eye-hole and it had a Mangekyo Sharingan. As far as abilities are concerned, he could make himself intangible and solid as and when he wished. He could also teleport from one place to another, anytime he wanted to."

Hiruzen thought for a while and then said, "I see."

Hiruzen then decided to drop the subject and asked him, "So what about your cover story. We can't have you appearing out of nowhere. Danzo and the others will start asking questions. We both know that you don't intend to stay low for too long. Then there is the issue of your name and appearance. What do you want to do about these things?"

Naruto thought for a while and said, "From my time as hokage, I know that the files related to oinin are for hokage eyes only. So how about creating a fake file which says that I am an oinin named Zabuha Itane, who just retired from being an oinin and has become a jounin. As far as my appearance is concerned, I think if I dye my hair red, get rid of my whisker marks and also change the color of my eyes into violet, it should be fine. I'll also trim the beard that I've grown while being cooped up here in the hospital into a small goatee and dye it red. That should be enough to take care of my cover."

Once Hiruzen got him what he needed, Naruto got to work and changed his appearance completely. He looked so different from normal, that even Hiruzen could no longer call him Naruto. Hiruzen then asked him about the reason behind his name an appearance.

Naruto replied, "After knowing my heritage, everyone has told me that I look exactly like my father. So I decided to take up my mother's appearance this time. After all she had beautiful long red hair and violet eyes." He paused for a while before continuing, "The name, Zabuha Itane comes from four people whom I met in my life and had immense respect for, Momichi Zabusa, Yuki Haku, Uchiha Itachi and Huuga Neji."

Hiruzen looked at Naruto and then said, "You do realize that Zabusa is an A-rank missing ninja of Kirigakure and Uchiha Itachi is a S-rank missing ninja of Konoha who killed his entire clan, don't you?"

Naruto looked seriously at the old man and said, "Jiji, Zabusa and Haku were the ones who made me realize my nindo. As far as Itachi is concerned, I know the truth about him. I've nothing but immense respect for Itachi because I doubt that I would be able to do what he did. His sacrifice and his life as a ninja were truly splendid. He was an amazing ninja till the very end. Neji sacrificed his life for me. He was a true genius right till the very end."

Hiruzen stared open-mouthed at Naruto for a while before breaking into a smile. He then asked, "Itane-kun, you mentioned that you want to help Naruto. Why? If the kid is going to turn out like you, I would rather have him continue doing whatever he wants to do and let life take its course with him."

Naruto replied, "His life is far from good and sweet. Besides, he should be ready for what is going to come. The Akatsuki will hunt him. They are a group of ten S-ranked ninja including Itachi and Orochimaru. Right now though, Naruto is lonely. He wants to show everyone that he exists, that is why he wears bright orange and plays pranks. I want to try and get rid of his loneliness and make him stronger at the same time."

Hiruzen looked sadly at Naruto for a while and then suddenly smiled and asked, "Now that you mention it, even you were wearing orange pants when we found you. So looks like you haven't dropped the color yet, huh?"

Naruto chuckled at the question and then said, "Till I was 17 and the Akatsuki were finally defeated, I wore orange. After that I was made Jounin, so I had to wear the dark blue jounin attire with the green vest. When I was appointed hokage, I dropped the jounin attire and wore black and orange clothes again with my red haori."

Hiruzen chuckled at the answer and gave Naruto his jounin attire. Naruto sulked before putting them on.

After Naruto had worn his Jounin clothes, Hiruzen smiled and said, "You no longer look like Uzumaki Naruto, Zabuha Itane-kun. Now you need to debrief me on your abilities."

Naruto looked at a mirror and checking how he looked before answering, "My main techniques are the Kage Bunshin, the Rasengan and so many of its variants that I created, the Hiraishin and its perfected version, the elemental rasengans and the bijuu-dama and its variants. My taijutsu style is based on the Kawaze Kumite I learnt in Mount Myouboku. My genjutsu is non-existent, but I can dispel genjutsu of any level thanks to my partner, Kurama. I spent some time in the anbu so I can use kenjutsu. My Kenjutsu would be around high-jounin level. I'm a fuinjutsu master. I can use all five elements. My main affinity is wind and my secondary is water. I can use A-rank techniques with all the elements and S-rank with wind and water. My techniques get further enhanced if I use Kurama's chakra. Even without the hiraishin, if I were to use Kurama's chakra, I am the fastest shinobi in all elemental nations. I can also use the Gama-Sennin mode and I summon toads."

Hiruzen was certainly impressed and his face showed it. Never in his wildest dreams, had he ever imagined the goofy knuckle-headed Naruto to have mastered so many techniques. Before he could say something, Naruto suddenly interrupted him.

"Jiji, I don't think the gama contract is valid anymore since, my younger self hasn't signed it yet and my contract was from a different time-line."

Hiruzen immediately understood the problem. He thought for a while before biting his thumb and doing the seals, boar-dog-bird-monkey-ram and summoned Enma the Monkey king.

"**Why have you summoned me in a hospital, Sarutobi", **the Monkey king asked.

Hiruzen and Naruto explained their entire story to Enma. Enma smiled at Naruto and said, **"Sign the Saru contract and you will be able to summon us anytime you want. The Saru-sennin mode is attained the same way as the Gama-sennin mode by drawing-in nature energy. Instead of your pupils changing into that of a toad's, your hair will grow till your back and your beard will just grow till you have a complete beard. Your personal familiar will be an ape named Kong. He will be able to transform into a sword if necessary to further aid you in your combat. Now why don't you try signing the contract and summoning Kong."**

Hiruzen placed the scroll in front of Naruto as he signed his name with his blood and then summoned Kong. Kong was a little bigger than Enma in size and had black hair instead of Enma's white. Like Enma, Kong wore a Konoha hitai-ate on his fore head and wore a black armor. He looked at Hiruzen, Enma and the summoning scroll with the new signature. He then looked at his summoner and then smiled and said, **"So, you are our new summoner and I suppose I am to be your familiar. If Enma-sama has given you the permission to summon us, that is fine with me. Call me whenever you need me. But before that we will have to train together to get used to each other. If that's all you need me for, I'll take my leave now, Naruto." **before disappearing with a smoke.

Naruto then tried using Sage Mode. Soon his new red hair had grown till it reached his upper back and his little goatee grew till it became a full beard. Both Enma and Hiruzen looked impressed with Naruto's new Saru-sennin mode. Enma then smiled and said, **"I'm truly impressed. I would love to see more but I've already spent too much time here. Good luck kid. See you around Saru." **Before disappearing with another smoke.

Hiruzen looked at Naruto and then asked, "You mentioned that you perfected the Hiraishin. What do you mean by that?"

Naruto grinned before saying, "The Hiraishin has two weaknesses. First, it requires a kunai and different shaped one at that. Second, it is quite predictable, if you know where the seals are." He paused before continuing. "In my version, all I've to do is open a scroll. The scroll distributes invisible Hiraishin seals over every single inch of land in a hundred meter radius. In other words, if my enemy is within a hundred meter radius from me, I can have seals planted all over his body. So I can just teleport to any point on his body."

Hiruzen stood open mouthed. His predecessor, Senju Tobirama had created the technique. His successor, Namikaze Minato had taken the technique to what he had thought was the highest possible level. Now his successor's son had taken the technique to a whole another level, one that he thought was truly impossible.

Naruto decided to wait till Hiruzen was out of the shocked state. When Hiruzen had finally found his voice again, he asked, "You said you are a fuinjutsu master. The last true master was Minato. Even Jiraiya is nowhere near that level. So how did you master fuinjutsu?"

Naruto smiled and said, "Jiji, perhaps you have forgotten who my parents were. After I turned 17 and became a jounin, I asked the Godaime hokage for my inheritance. When I went to my home, I found the Hiraishin scroll and Uzumaki fuinjutsu scroll locked away with blood seals which I opened. So you could say that they were part of my inheritance."

To say the Sandaime was impressed at the prowess of the Rokudaime would be an understatement. He then asked, "Where do you want to stay? You could stay at your parent's place without anyone knowing if you wanted."

Naruto looked at Hiruzen with a sad smile before saying, "That's part of Naruto's inheritance now. It is no longer mine. I go by the name of Zabuha Itane now. Not Uzumaki Naruto."

Hiruzen look sadly at the young man who he knew had been through a lot. Naruto thought for a while before saying, "Say Jiji, I believe the apartment next to Uzumaki Naruto is vacant. Since people don't want to live anywhere near the Demon child, why don't you give me that apartment? I also need some cash. I don't have any for food and equipment. I'll start taking assignments from next week onwards. Till then I would like to spend some quality time with Naruto."

Hiruzen smiled and said, "Sure. Just come to my office and collect the keys after lunch. By then, I'll have everything ready." before disappearing with a twirl of leaves.

Naruto then got out of the office to begin a new life as Zabuha Itane.

Zabuha Itane walked down the familiar roads of Konoha before reaching Ichiraku's. Seated in front of him was a young blond wearing a bright orange jumpsuit. Looking at the younger version of himself, Itane couldn't help but recall his childhood memories. He realized that most of his good memories were at Ichiraku's. He approached the blond kid who was into his ninth bowl and said, "Nine bowls. Not bad, kid." The blond prankster looked up at the red haired man with a red goatee and violet eyes and said with a smile, "I've just started. There is no way I'm going to stop with just nine bowls of God's gift to us, unworthy mortals."

The older man approached the younger child and said, "Let us see. Who can eat more? Me or You?"

The eleven year old child's eyes widened and an evil grin appeared on his face as he said, "You're on."

When the Ramen eating contest ended, the blond kid had eaten twenty three bowls while the red head had finished twenty nine bowls. Naruto along with the Chef, Teuchi and his daughter, Ayame were looking at the red head with widened eyes. Never had they seen anyone who could more ramen than Naruto.

Naruto looked at the man and asked him, "Who are you, ni-san? I haven't seen you around. You ate more ramen than me. Not even Chouji can do that. How did you do it? I've never seen you anywhere near Ichiraku's before."

Itane looked at the young blond who had pout on his face which clearly showed that he hated being bested at only thing besides pranking in which he had been the best in the village. Itane smiled at him and said, "My name is Zabuha Itane. I'm your new neighbor. I'm a jounin who used to do a lot of missions away from the village. I've just come back after a very long time. That's why you haven't seen me around. During my time away from the village, I ate lots of ramen. For the past two weeks, I've been stuck in the hospital. The hospital food is horrible and I needed to vent. Besides, I'm a lot older, bigger and stronger than you. So, I should naturally be able to eat a lot more than you, Naruto-kun."

Upon hearing his name, Naruto immediately asked, "How do you know my name, Itane-san?"

Itane replied, "Sandaime-sama told me that my neighbor, Uzumaki Naruto is an eleven year old who would be wearing bright orange clothes and eating around twenty bowls of ramen."

Naruto grinned at Itane and said, "Yup, that's me. See you later Itane-san." before running away excited at the prospect of getting a new neighbor who seemed friendly enough, was a jounin and didn't glare at him. 'Maybe I could ask him to teach me something. Maybe that pain in the ass Bunshin jutsu' Naruto thought as he ran back home to clean his apartment. He wanted to make a good impression on his new neighbor.

Itane smiled as the young blond version of himself ran away while Kurama was muttering in his mindscape, **"LOTS OF WORK TO DO."**

After lunch, Itane went to the Sandaime's office, from where he collected his apartment keys and some money to buy food, weapons and equipment.

He then went to the Higurashi weapon's store, where he was greeted by the owner's daughter, Higurashi Tenten. He purchased several kunai, shuriken, makibishi, senbon, sealing scrolls, a katana, lots of ink, chakra blades, explosion tags, sealing tags and a tanto. He checked the quality of each item in detail before buying them. Tenten was impressed with Itane's eye for quality. Soon they were engaged in a conversation regarding weapons.

After Itane bought his weapons and other equipment, he got himself some clothes. He then had dinner and went to sleep in his new apartment. He told himself, 'Tomorrow is a Sunday and that means there won't be academy. So tomorrow I'll begin training Naruto.'

Author's notes: I had to break my head to get the name Zabuha Itane. Hope you guys like it. As far as the summoning contract and the Saru sennin-mode is concerned. I figured that if Naruto has to use sennin-mode, he'll need the toad contract. He can't just summon toads out of nowhere. In fact nothing of that sort would be possible without Jiraiya's help. So I had him sign the Saru summoning contract with the help of Hiruzen and Enma. As far as Kong was concerned, once again, I had to break my head over it. Yes, King Kong was what inspired me into creating the ape named Kong. After the first chapter, i got some good reviews. Hope you really enjoy this chapter and plz do tell if you like it or not.


	3. Chapter 3-The Older and Younger duo

**CHAPTER 3: THE OLDER AND THE YOUNGER DUO**

"Normal Speech"

**"KYUUBI SPEECH"**

'Normal thought or Mindscape speech'

_LINE BREAK_

Zabuha Itane woke up at four in the morning. Within another half an hour, he freshened up and went out to train. He knew that his new neighbor, Naruto would be asleep till atleast ten on Sundays, since he didn't have to go to the academy, which gave him enough time to have a good workout, bath and also enough time to meet up with the hokage. He wanted to discuss his plans regarding Naruto and Mizuki with the hokage before meeting up with Naruto.

Itane went to training ground 44, the Forest of Death. He placed some seals to ensure that he wouldn't be disturbed by any creature while training. He started his work out with regular physical exercises and some chakra control exercises, which were followed by some elemental training and some kenjutsu practice. Thanks to his kage-bunshin, he managed to finish of all this training in less than two hours. After resting for another 15 minutes, he summoned Kong for training. The training lasted another two hours, before he decided to call it quits. He hurried back into his apartment and took a bath before changing into his jounin outfit, having some breakfast and heading to the hokage tower by 9:30.

When he saw Itane entering his office, Hiruzen sent his Anbu guards away and activated the silencing seal in his office with a few hand signs. Hiruzen then asked Itane, "What brings you to my office at this time of the day, Itane-kun? I thought you were going to take care of Naruto for a week before requesting missions. "

"Yes, that was and still is the plan. However, I want to discuss certain things with you before I began his training." Itane replied.

"And what might that be?" Hiruzen asked questioningly before asking, "Does this have to do with the future?"

Itane replied, "Yes, it does. I guess I should start by saying that I failed my graduation three times because each time there was one jutsu that I couldn't get to do no matter how much I tried. It may sound funny but even now, I find that particular jutsu to be the hardest to perform."

Upon hearing Itane's confession, Hiruzen's eyebrows rose up in shock. In front of him stood a man who found S-rank jutsu like Hiraishin and A-rank jutsu like the Rasengan to be much easier than a simple academy level jutsu.

Itane seemed to read his mind. He smiled and said, "That's right, Jiji. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't perform the simple Bunshin no jutsu. I couldn't perform the bunshin no jutsu because it requires far too less chakra. But as I told you yesterday, I can easily perform the Kage-bunshin no jutsu. The kage-bunshin no jutsu, as you are surely aware is not taught at the academy, since it requires immense chakra reserves to perform and would even kill an average gennin. I learnt how to perform the kage-bunshin no jutsu from the scroll of seals kept in your office."

Hiruzen's eyes widened upon hearing Itane's words. He couldn't help but ask, "How did you get your hands on the hokage scroll? And why would you do that? I doubt you would seek the scroll of seals simply to learn the kage-bunshin no jutsu."

Itane smile disappeared as he said, "Exactly jiji, I was manipulated. After failing the third time, a certain instructor from the academy, Mizuki told me that I could pass the graduation exam if I could steal the scroll of seals from your office and learn a technique from it. So I entered your office, knocked you out using my oiroke no jutsu, stole of scroll of seals and ran into the forest." Hiruzen couldn't help but feel ashamed of himself for letting himself get knocked out by such a technique.

"Within another hour, I managed to master the kage-bunshin no jutsu before Iruka-sensei found me and learnt the truth about Mizuki's little scheme. Mizuki wanted to leave the village with the scroll and join hands with Orochimaru. He wanted to have me blamed for the incident and have me killed since he hated me. Mizuki managed to find both me and Iruka-sensei and attacked us. That was when he revealed the S-class secret regarding the Kyuubi to me. Mizuki then tried to kill me with a shuriken but Iruka-sensei covered me and took the shuriken on his back. After that I used the kage-bunshin no jutsu, created hundreds of clones and kicked Mizuki-teme's ass." Itane finished.

After hearing the story, Hiruzen looked at Itane and asked, "Everything seemed to have ended pretty well then. So what is the problem?"

Itane looked at Hiruzen and replied, "For everything to happen the same way, Naruto should remain the dead-last. If I start training him, he'll get strong. He'll probably be miles ahead of all his peers by the time he graduates from the academy."

Hiruzen sighed understanding the problem, "I see. It is quite the dilemma indeed. Make him go through a lot of pain or be unable to catch some traitors red-handed. So, do you have a solution to the problem?" Hiruzen asked Itane.

Itane gave him a rather evil smile as he said, "Yes Jiji, I do."

_LINE BREAK_

Uzumaki Naruto woke up from his bed and looked at his alarm clock. The clock read 10:15. He immediately yelled, "Dammit, I'm late dattebayo." as he ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth and began dressing up only to realize that the day was a Sunday when he glanced at the calendar. He decided to meet his new neighbor, Zabuha Itane and ask him to join him for breakfast at Ichiraku's. When he got out of the room, he noticed that his neighbor's room was locked and he wasn't there in his apartment. He walked to Ichiraku's ignoring the glares he was receiving from the villagers and ordered three bowls of miso ramen. When he was half way through with his third bowl, an Anbu with the bear mask appeared behind him. The Anbu told him that the hokage wanted him in his office. Naruto couldn't help but wonder 'What does Jiji want with me today?' as he slurped his third bowl of ramen before paying and going with the Anbu to the hokage tower.

He entered the office and shouted, "What do you want with me today, Jiji?"

It was then that Naruto noticed his new neighbor whom he met at Ichiraku's the previous night, Zabuha Itane seated in the office. He smiled at his neighbor and said, "I wanted to invite you to join me for breakfast at Ichiraku's, Itane-san. But your door was locked. So I thought I'll invite you later. So would you join me for lunch at Ichiraku's then, Itane-san?"

Itane sweat-dropped when he realized that his younger self only ate from Ichiraku's throughout the day. Over the years since he became a ninja, he had grown accustomed to cooking his own food and eating from Ichiraku's only once or twice weekly. He smiled at Naruto and said, "Actually you should probably join me for lunch. I'm sure I can cook something for you. Afterall, eating ramen throughout the day cannot be healthy for you."

Inside him Kurama was holding his stomach and laughing while saying, **"SAYS THE RAMEN ADDICT." **Hiruzen was trying his level best to not laugh while thinking the same thing as Kurama. Inside his mindscape, Itane just scowled as he said 'Shut-up baka-kurama'.

Naruto on the other hand was really happy. He had never been invited over for lunch by anyone before. He was really looking forward to having lunch at his new neighbor's place. Naruto smiled broadly as he said, "Thank you. I will be there."

Hiruzen then coughed a little to get the attention of both the Narutos. He looked hard at Naruto and said, "Naruto-kun, I actually called you here to discuss a very important matter with you."

Naruto looked at Hiruzen and asked, "Okay, so what sup, Jiji?"

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes as he said, "Naruto, I called you here to give you your first mission."

As soon as Naruto heard those words, he started jumping around, he ran around Hiruzen's desk twice while screaming, "Yattaa, so you finally understood what an amazing ninja I am. It sure took you a long time to understand."

When they saw Naruto dancing around, both Hiruzen and Itane started having second doubts about Itane's little plan. Inside Itane's mindscape, Kurama couldn't help but laugh over little Naruto's antics. Itane was trying to ignore Kurama's laughter while trying his level best not to slam his own head through the wall at his younger self's antics.

Naruto continued jumping around for five minutes before smiling widely at Hiruzen and asking, "So jij, what is the mission? Am I going to save a princess or fight some bandits or ninjas?" his eyes shining brightly with excitement.

Hiruzen chuckled before saying, "No. Your mission is to fail the academy graduation exam a third time and to continue acting like an idiot."

Naruto's expressions turned into a scowl as he shouted at Hiruzen, "What do you mean fail the academy graduation exam a third time, Jiji? I already failed twice and I was so looking forward to gradating this time. I can't let Sasuke-teme and the others beat me and become ninjas while I stay at the academy."

That was when Itane decided to interrupt, "So are you sure you can graduate the exam this time around?"

Naruto looked at Itane for a while. He had never seen Itane look so serious before. He was a little taken aback as he knew deep inside that he wasn't sure that he would able to graduate this time even. However he yelled back at Itane, "Yes, I am 100% sure that I'll graduate this time."

Itane narrowed his eyes as he said, "Then, why don't you perform the bunshin no jutsu now in front of me. If you do, we'll give you the Konoha shinobi hitai-ate right here, right now."

Naruto knew that the bunshin no jutsu was his worst technique. No matter how hard he tried, he could never perform it. But here was a chance, an opportunity to obtain his own hitai-ate. He always wanted one. Iruka-sensei never allowed him to wear his and this was too good an opportunity to pass up. If he got the technique right by some luck, he could get his own hitai-ate and become an official konoha shinobi.

Naruto then did some hand seals and shouted, "Bunshin no jutsu". Three lifeless bunshin appeared that collapsed and exploded in seconds.

Naruto felt humiliated and embarrassed. It was nothing new to him as he had experienced it before. He was expecting the usual laughter that he experiences in the academy but it never came. He looked up at both Itane and Hiruzen. Both were looking at him with a little smile.

Naruto scowled and looked down as he said, "Fine, I can't perform the jutsu. Are you happy now? But I'm sure I'll have it down before the graduation exams."

That was when Itane said, "No, you won't. And there is a reason you can't perform the bunshin no jutsu. The reason is because you have too much chakra and no chakra control. Even if you practiced chakra control, you won't be able to create a regular bunshin for years."

Naruto looked at Itane with wide eyes. Tears were forming on his eyes while he was trying to understand what his neighbor was saying. 'I won't be able to perform the bunshin technique for years even with chakra control exercises, something I've never even heard of in the academy. If I can't do the bunshin jutsu, I can never graduate from the academy. And till I graduate from the academy, I can't become a ninja. In other words, I can never become the hokage and get acknowledged by the villagers. They'll continue to look down on me forever then.'

When Itane saw that Naruto understood his situation, he smiled and said, "However there might be a way around this problem."

Naruto's eyes widened as heard some hope in those words and looked up at Itane. Itane continued as he said, "If I train you, you might become stronger and become a ninja anyway. I could also teach you a variation of the bunshin no jutsu that is not taught at the academy since it requires too much chakra. I could make you way stronger than the rest of your class before the graduation exams take place."

Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes as he looked up at his neighbor like he was looking at his savior. He then asked his neighbor almost pleadingly, "Will you train me then, Itane-sensei?"

Itane couldn't help but smile widely as Naruto referred to him as 'Itane-sensei'. He dropped his smile and looked at Naruto as he said, "I will. But only under one condition."

Naruto noticed the smile disappearing on Itane's face disappearing. But seeing that he didn't have any other choice, he looked at Itane and said, "Anything, sensei. Anything you want."

Itane's smile reappeared as he said, "You must complete the mission Hokage-sama gave you."

Naruto's eye-brows rose up as asked, "Ehh, Nani? You want me to fail my graduation? Why? Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

That was when Hiruzen said, "Naruto-kun, we have a traitor in the academy. We aren't sure who he is? All we know is that he wants the scroll of seals that contains a lot of dangerous techniques. If an enemy gets his hands on the scroll, it could be very dangerous for the village. We believe the traitor will approach you at some point and try to use you if you remain the dead-last in the academy."

Naruto was starting to understand the gravity of the situation. But suddenly a question popped up in his head, "Why would he approach me if I'm the dead last in the academy?"

"Because we believe that he hates you and would want you to be caught in the act rather than him." replied Itane.

"But why? Why does he hate me? Why does everyone hate me? I may have done some pranks. But I never did anything that harmful to anyone?" asked Naruto.

Hiruzen sighed. He always knew that he would have to answer to this question at some point in his life. So far he always kept avoiding this question. Whenever it came by, he would just avoid answering the question. But after hearing about the Mizuki incident from Itane, he knew that he would have to tell Naruto before Mizuki did. Thanks to Itane, he knew that Naruto wouldn't hate him or Minato for what they had done. He took a deep breath before asking, "Naruto-kun, what do you know about the kyuubi incident?"

Naruto was wondering 'What does that have to do with this' but decided to answer anyway, "The Kyuubi attacked our village on October 10th, eleven years ago, on the day that I was born. The Yondaime Hokage defeated the kyuubi and killed it by sacrificing his own life."

Hiruzen looked at Naruto with sad eyes as he said, "Yes. That is indeed the story we told the people to tell to their children. But only half of that story is true. It is true that the Yondaime Hokage defeated the kyuubi. But he couldn't kill it. The kyuubi is just a huge mass of chakra. It cannot be killed. So he did the next best thing. He sealed it. It is impossible to seal a being of huge chakra mass like the kyuubi in scrolls. He could only seal it inside another human being. So he sealed it inside a child. A child born on October 10th, eleven years ago. He sealed it inside you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto's eyes widened as he heard the truth from the man who was like a grandfather to him. Then it dawned upon him, why he suffered all along, why everyone seemed to hate him, why the others looked at him with contempt, why they never allowed him in shops, or in restaurants, why they treated him so badly. It all made sense. The words, 'Demon brat' and 'Monster-child' that he had heard so many times kept reverberating in his head.

Naruto looked up at his surrogate grandfather as he said, "So, I am the kyuubi."

That was when Itane interrupted him, "No. You are not the kyuubi. You are merely his container or rather the 'Jinchuuriki' of the kyuubi. You are the child to whom the Yondaime Hokage entrusted the task of protecting the village at the cost of his own life. You are the hero of this village, Naruto-kun."

Tears started flowing from Naruto's eyes as he started to cry openly, "If I'm the hero of the village, then why do they treat like I'm a germ, like I'm a nuisance, like I'm something that they don't want in this village? Why do they do that?"

Itane took out his holster and his kunai and said, "Because they don't know the simple difference between a holster and a kunai. You, Naruto are the holster while the kyuubi is the kunai."

The explanation made a lot of sense to Naruto as he stopped crying. He wiped his tears. As Itane spoke, "A lot of people lost people who were precious to them during the kyuubi incident and they could do nothing about it. When they look at you, they are reminded of the fact that the monster that killed their loved ones is alive, trapped inside you. That is why they hate you. Even those who don't hate you avoid you because they didn't want themselves or the ones that they care about to be a subject of the other's hatred as well and be called a demon-lover."

Hiruzen looked at Naruto and realized that Naruto was no longer crying. He had recovered from the shock. He then looked at Naruto and told him, "Naruto-kun, just remove your shirt and gather some chakra."

Naruto removed his orange jumpsuit top and started gathering chakra. Both Hiruzen and Itane couldn't help but feel sad for the badly under-nourished child. As Naruto began gathering his chakra, the seal started appearing on his stomach. Hiruzen then told Naruto, "Now look at your stomach."

When Naruto saw the seal, he asked Hiruzen, "How did that appear?"

Hiruzen replied, "That is the seal that holds the kyuubi. The Yondaime Hokage wanted you to be seen as a hero. That is why he created the seal and died. However, the people of the village in their anger and hatred have forgotten the last wish of the Yondaime Hokage."

Naruto couldn't help but feel happy upon hearing that the man he idolized throughout his life, 'The Yondaime Hokage' wanted him to be seen as a hero and trusted him with such an important task. He started feeling a lot more confident and responsible. He looked at the Sandaime Hokage and said, "No matter what, I won't let the Yondaime down."

Hiruzen couldn't have been more happier upon hearing those words. As far as he was concerned the situation couldn't have gone any better. He was glad Itane was there with him, helping him out with the situation.

Naruto sat on the couch and was going through everything he had just said and heard and then a question arose in his head. He asked Hiruzen, "Jiji, why exactly do I have to fail the graduation exam to pass this mission?"

Itane was the one who replied, "Because we don't know when he'll act. We believe it will be after the graduation exam. We need you to be the first and foremost option for someone he could use to get his hands on the scroll of seals."

Naruto then asked, "Does this mean that even if I become stronger than my classmates, I'll have to keep losing to them in spars?"

Itane replied, "Unfortunately, yes. You'll have to keep losing to them in spars. You should not show any of the skills you develop. Not even the taijutsu skills."

Naruto scowled as he said, "Damn. I hate the idea of losing Sasuke-teme in those academy spars again even if I become stronger than him."

Itane and Hiruzen started laughing loudly as Itane replied, "Don't worry, you can kick his ass plenty after the mission is over and you become gennin."

Naruto smiled at Itane's reply and thought for a while before asking, "Do you have any idea who this traitor is?"

Itane replied, "No. All we know is that it isn't Umino Iruka. You can trust him. But don't tell even him about this mission."

A smile appeared on Naruto's face. Naruto liked Iruka. He didn't want to be unable to trust him. It made him really happy to know that Iruka wasn't the traitor.

Naruto then smiled broadly as he said, "Then, I accept the conditions. When do we start?"

Itane smiled and said, "We'll have lunch at one in my place. After that we leave to training area 44. No one generally trains in there. It is a rather secluded place from other ninjas. So I got permission from Hokage-sama to use that training ground."

Naruto was really happy. He felt that things are finally going to get a lot better for him. He still had two hours before having to go for lunch. He was thinking about what he should do till then.

Suddenly Itane said, "First, we need to get you changed. You are not training wearing bright orange. Also we will have to buy some proper ninja tools. Your tools are blunt and overused."

Naruto smiled turned into a scowl as he said, "Why? Why should I change? Orange is a great color. I don't want to spend money unnecessarily on clothes."

Itane remembered Yamato's scary face impression. He changed his facial expressions to appear exactly like Yamato's as he said, "Naruto, training area 44 is also known as 'The Forest Of Death' and it goes by that name for a reason. There are a lot of wild plants and animals in that forest. Your clothes make you look like a bright orange target. Exactly the sort of food those dangerous creatures are looking for. In other words, go with bright orange clothes into the forest of death and you'll die the most horrible and horrifying death."

To say that Naruto was scared was an understatement. The use of Yamato's scary technique combined with the words death, wild, dangerous, horrible and horrifying literally made Naruto pee in his pants.

Kurama and Itane were laughing their asses off in Itane's mindscape. Kurama was complimenting Itane saying, **"THAT WAS AN EXCELLENT YAMATO IMPRESSION. THE MAN WOULD BE PROUD".** While Hiruzen was trying his level best to hold back his laughter. Hiruzen knew exactly whose impression Itane had performed and couldn't help but think that the performance was perfect.

_LINE BREAK_

Meanwhile, somewhere in the forests of Hi no kuni, an Anbu suddenly sneezed.

_LINE BREAK_

Itane looked at Naruto and told him, "Alright Naruto, do a henge. Get rid of your whisker marks. Change your clothes into maybe a red shirt and black pants. Change your blond hair and blue eyes to brown hair and black eyes. Maintain your size. As long as they don't recognize you, you won't be stopped from entering any shop."

Naruto was looking at his toad wallet. Naruto hated the idea of spending money needlessly. For the sake of saving money, he often starved himself and never bought new clothes. Seeing Naruto looking at his wallet, Hiruzen said, "Naruto-kun, when you complete this mission, you'll be getting paid for an A-rank mission. Usually this would be a B-rank mission. But since this mission is going to be a little longer than usual, I'll upgrade it to A-rank. Also you don't have to worry about the money you need for the clothes. Just tell them to put it in my tab."

Naruto smiled broadly and hugged the old man and cried, "Thank you, Jiji. You are the best."

Itane and Naruto said their goodbyes to the Hokage as they walked out. As they walked, nobody was glaring at Naruto anymore. He felt like a normal person. But he knew that he wanted to be able to do feel just like that as himself, without a henge. But he knew that for now, atleast till his mission ends, he has to live a lie. This is a part of his life as a ninja.

Itane took Naruto to a ninja clothes shop. Naruto was a little hesitant to enter the shop. He remembered as a child, he wasn't allowed to enter the shop. Now he knew why. Itane started selecting his clothes. Itane gave him some clothes to try on. He went into the trial room and changed into those clothes. Inside the trial room, he dropped his henge and starting wearing the clothes that Itane had given him. He had to admit that they looked really good on him.

He looked at the mirror in the trial room. He was wearing black shinobi pants with a grey hoodie. He was wearing mesh armor underneath his hoodie. Itane also got him some black shinobi sandals and black finger-less gloves. The hoodie had an Uzumaki clan symbol printed on its back.

After admiring his own looks for a while, the blond prankster king of Konoha put back his henge and walked to Itane. They brought five sets of the same clothes.

Itane and Naruto then turned a corner. Itane then told Naruto to wear his hood and drop his henge to which Naruto complied. The hood covered his hair and due to his eyes being on the ground, most of his face was covered. No one knew that Naruto was walking between them. They were too used to seeing him in bright orange clothes, that they couldn't imagine him walking between them wearing grey and black clothes.

Naruto asked Itane, "Why did you tell me to drop the henge?"

Itane replied, "Because we are now going to a weapon's store. The owner is a retired ninja. The owner's daughter is a gennin. They should be able to see through your henge. Even if they don't, they still are nice people."

They walked to into the Higurashi weapon's store. A girl wearing Chinese clothes with hair tied in buns stood at the counter. As soon as they entered, the girl cheerfully said, "Welcome to Higurashi weapon's store. What can I get you?"

As soon as she saw Itane, she got scared, "Zabuha-san, is anything wrong. You just came and bought equipment yesterday. I'm sure they couldn't have gotten damaged this quickly."

Itane laughed at her reaction and said, "No. Don't worry Tenten-chan, they're doing just fine. I came just to help my young friend here buy some weapons."

Tenten sighed in relief and helped Naruto get some weapons. Itane had Naruto buy whatever he bought the previous day and told Tenten to put them in the Hokage's tab.

After that, Itane bought some groceries including a lot of vegetables and meat. The two of them then went to Itane's apartment after their little shopping spree.

By one, Itane had prepared lunch for the two of them. Itane had cooked some sashimi, yakitori and onigiri for both of them. After lunch, two of them started getting ready for their first training session together.

Itane wore his jounin attire without his flak jacket while Naruto wore his new clothes. When they reached the forest of death, Naruto couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed. He got over it soon enough as they entered the forest.

Itane took Naruto a little deep into the forest when he suddenly decided to stop upon reaching a certain clearing. Itane then started placing protection seals over the area. Itane called Naruto over and told him, "The first thing I'm going to teach you is a technique known as kage-bunshin no jutsu. Unlike other bunshin jutsu, this technique requires a large amount of chakra. Even the most impressive gennin can't make more than two kage-bunshin or they'll die due to lack of chakra. Fortunately, you have more reserves than most jounin. So this technique is going to be pretty easy for you. You only have to use the ram seal and imagine splitting your chakra into different equal parts."

Itane did a ram seal and said, "Kage-bunshin no jutsu" as five clones of Itane appeared. As soon as Naruto saw the technique, he pumped his fist in the air and yelled, "Awesome."

Naruto got the technique down in just fifteen minutes and within another half an hour, he could perform, the Taju Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu to create over a hundred clones. Naruto then spend the next half an hour jumping up and down celebrating the fact that he finally learnt how to do the bunshin jutsu which had been a painful thorn in both his graduation exams. After Naruto had calmed down, Itane called him over.

Itane looked at Naruto and said, "Let's create one kage-bunshin each." Both made one kage-bunshin. After which Itane told Naruto, "Kage-bunshins move out of the clearing." Naruto was wondering what was going on as Itane's kage-bunshin and his own kage-bunshin left the clearing and were totally out of sight."

Itane's kage-bunshin told Naruto's kage bunshin, "Tomorrow, breakfast will be at my place. Now let's dispel." as both the kage-bunshin's dispelled.

Naruto was looking at Itane and was wondering if he had gone senile. Suddenly Itane looked at Naruto and asked him, "So what did my kage-bunshin tell your kage-bunshin?"

"Tomorrow, breakfast will be at your place." replied Naruto.

Itane smiled and said, "Now that is the advantage of kage-bunshin. Their memory gets transferred to the main body. The problem with this technique is that their fatigue is also transferred to the main body. Kage-bunshin no jutsu was first created by the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama-sama as means for information gathering. The reason I taught you the kage-bunshin before anything else is because starting from tomorrow, you'll be sending a kage-bunshin to the academy to act like an idiot while the original you'll be training with me. Even I don't have endless free-time to keep teaching you. I'll be doing missions from next week onwards. So I've a lot to teach you by that time. To shorten the time required to learn things, we'll be using kage-bunshin."

Naruto suddenly interrupted Itane, "Itane-sensei, I understand the experience part. But how will it shorten the time required to learn things?"

Itane sighed as he answered, "If you create one clone and practice techniques using both the clone and the original body, you both will be gaining experience. Now when you dispel the clone, you'll gain double the experience. So you'll be learning the technique twice as fast. Now imagine if you create fourty-nine clones. And you practice a technique, using all fourty-nine of you and yourself, you'll learn it fifty times faster."

Naruto pumped his hands in the air and jumped while crying out, "Awesome. I'll be super strong in super quick time."

Itane sighed at Naruto's immaturity while Kurama in his mindscape started chuckling, **"I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD EVER GET TO SEE SOMEONE SIGHING AT THEIR OWN IMMATURITY, HAHAHAHA"**

Itane tried to ignore Kurama laughter in the background as he called Naruto over. He looked seriously at Naruto and said, "Yes. You'll get stronger very quickly but don't forget that not even a single soul should know about this. As far as the rest of Konoha is concerned, you don't know how to perform even a single bunshin. You risk failing the mission which is very important to Konoha if you're seen performing the kage-bunshin in front of anyone. Even those that you trust the most like Umino Iruka, Ichiraku Teuchi and Ichiraku Ayame or even those whom you hate the most like Uchiha Sasuke or anyone else for the matter should not know about your improvement. You are in the middle of an A-rank mission. So you must also act like you are in one. Even when I'm outside Konoha, you must keep your skills and abilities hidden. Remember that a true shinobi is someone who stays hidden even in broad daylight."

Naruto nodded understanding the message. He'll be living, growing his skills as a shinobi and maturing under the shadows while showing his immature, childish self to the rest of the world that remains in broad day-light.

Seeing that Naruto understood his message, Itane decided to teach him how to control his chakra. Itane gathered some chakra on his feet and started walking on the tree. Naruto was shocked to see Itane climb a tree without using his hands.

Itane sat on a branch of the tree and started giving Naruto instructions, "First gather some chakra on your feet. You may not get it the first time around so take a kunai and run a little bit before you start climbing the tree. When you are about to fall down, mark the bark of the tree using the kunai. Remember if you use too little chakra, your feet won't stick. Use too much chakra and you'll be pushed away from the tree. This is a chakra control exercise. To do this technique, I want you to create twenty clones. All of you should try climbing the trees around this clearing. After every fifteen minutes, the five clones that reached the highest points will be dispelled and you'll create five more clones to replace them."

Naruto created twenty clones and started the tree walking exercise. After four hours of training, Naruto collapsed due to chakra exhaustion. He had reached about three-fourth of the tree. Half an hour later, Naruto woke up in the forest of death, to find his new sensei cooking a rabbit and some fish. Itane told Naruto that his kage-bunshin managed to hunt down a rabbit and found some fish at a nearby lake while Naruto was asleep. After eating their dinner in the forest, Itane decided to call it a day. He carried Naruto back to his apartment, removed his shoes and laid him on his bed before going back to his apartment.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Sorry I took a while to update. Had my hands full for a while. I pretty much had to scrap the chapter thrice before typing this one out. I want to thank all those reviewed. I'm trying my level best to make sure that the quality of the story doesn't go down. Hope you guys like this chapter as well.**


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